


I'll Tell You All About it When I See You Again

by ohheykat



Category: The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Contest Entry, F/F, Trigger Warning: Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-07-07 22:43:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19859224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohheykat/pseuds/ohheykat
Summary: Christmas break of their first college year has come and gone, and Emma finds herself missing Alyssa a little more than normal as her girlfriend calls her while she's sick. She wants nothing more than to see her again soon, and she gets her wish! Just not in the way she expected...This is my contest entry!





	I'll Tell You All About it When I See You Again

Alyssa Greene didn’t get sick. When she was younger, her mother would make her go to school until she absolutely couldn’t anymore, so at this point in her life she was just used to it. That didn’t stop it from worrying her girlfriend, or her friends for that matter. “I don’t wanna leave you here by yourself,” Kaylee says as she continues to pack up her bag for the cheer competition. “Do you want me to call Shelby and see if she’ll stay here with you?”

The brunette laughs at that idea. “I don’t need a babysitter Kay, I’ve just got a cold,” she sniffles, snuggling into the covers with the stuffed sloth Emma had given her. 

Kaylee rolls her eyes and pauses her packing to walk over to the younger girl, laying her hand over her forehead. “You have a fever.”

“A low-grade fever won’t kill me,” Alyssa laughs again, but Kaylee’s frown only deepens. 

“Just promise you’ll take that medicine.”

“I will,” Alyssa sits up a little, allowing Kaylee to hug her. “You worry too much.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Kaylee asks, and to Alyssa, it feels like this is the thousandth time she’s done this. “I can get our trainer to look at you, just to make sure it isn’t anything serious.”

“I don’t wanna risk getting you or the other girls sick before your competition,” Alyssa shakes her head. “Besides, there’s no need in taking up your trainer’s time with a case of the sniffles. I’ll be here when you get back.”

Kaylee sighs, annoyed that Alyssa won’t take her advice, but she drops the subject. As she continues to pack for her trip, Alyssa shoots a text to Emma that she isn’t feeling well and is going to fall asleep soon. It isn’t long after that her eyes finally drift closed, and she floats away to dreams where her girlfriend isn’t nearly a thousand miles away.

* * *

“Hey buttercup,” Shelby greets the next afternoon, a stack of binders in one hand, a grocery bag in the other. “Kaylee said you weren’t feeling well, so I thought I’d get you your notes.”

“Thanks,” Alyssa’s voice is barely above a whisper, and she doesn’t make an effort to leave her nest of blankets.

Shelby’s “mom friend” instincts kick in as soon as she sees the pile of blankets her friend is supposedly under. She moves a few of them away from her just so she can see her face, which is a sickly pale combination of gray and green. “Jesus Christ,” she mumbles, laying a hand on her forehead. “Have you checked your temperature today?”

“I haven’t moved today,” Alyssa deadpans.

“Okay,” she sighs. “I’m gonna get your thermometer and start some soup on the stove. Why don’t you pick out a movie on Netflix? I’ll sleep in Kaylee’s bed tonight.”

Alyssa nods, and Shelby hands her the remote before walking towards the bathroom to get a thermometer. Even though it takes less than two minutes to get there and get back, Alyssa is already snoring softly by the time she reaches her. “Hey buttercup,” she shakes her shoulder softly. “I’m really sorry, but I have to check this.”

Alyssa doesn't protest, letting Shelby slip it under her tongue. Shelby strokes her hair while she waits, and her frown deepens when she feels the heat coming off of her. By the time the thermometer beeps, she’s already debating whether or not they’re going to the hospital tonight. “That’s high,” she curses under her breath. “Please let me take you to the doctor?”

“No,” Alyssa whines. “If we go to the doctor Mom’s gonna see it, and then she’s gonna call me and worry. It’s not worth it.”

Shelby wants to argue, but the brunette is already beginning to lose her voice, so there really is no point in doing so. When Alyssa begins to snore again, she decides to get up and begin making some soup, hoping that her friend will feel up to eating soon. She can already tell that it’s going to be a long night.

* * *

The next night things are a thousand times worse. Shelby had gone back to her dorm after Alyssa had promised that she was okay, but the truth was she felt as if she had been hit by a truck, run over by a train, and then been the unfortunate victim of a plane crash. Although she had no appetite, she got another text from Kaylee telling her she needed to eat. Shelby had told her before she left that there was soup in the fridge, but the thought of getting out of bed honestly made Alyssa want to throw up. 

Instead of getting up to get food, she reaches for her phone resting on her nightstand, then shakily scrolls through her contacts. Once she finds Emma's she hits the FaceTime button and snuggles into her blankets, wanting nothing more than to surround herself with Emma's voice.

“Hey baby,” her girlfriend greets as soon as she answers her FaceTime request. 

“Hi,” Alyssa rasps, snuggling herself back into her nest.

“Still not feeling well?” Emma guesses and frowns when Alyssa nods. “What’s going on baby girl?”

“It’s kind of hard to breathe,” Alyssa admits, which makes Emma’s eyes bulge out in worry. “My fever spiked about an hour ago, so that’s been fun.”

“‘Lys you need to go to the doctor.”

“Emma, it’s past midnight here. The only doctor I’m going to be able to see is if I go to the emergency room, and we both know that isn’t happening.”

“Will you at least go in the morning?”

“Yes. I promise if I still feel like this in the morning I’ll get Shelby to pick me up.”

Emma nods, and Alyssa can see the fear in her eyes. “Hey, Em,” the brunette drops the annoyed tone she had been using. “I’m going to be okay, I promise. It’s just the flu, there's no need to worry.”

“Okay,” Emma notices the way that Alyssa’s eyes are drooping closed, and the way that she’s trying so hard to keep up in the conversation. “Baby girl why don’t you go ahead and go to sleep? It might help you get rid of that icky feeling.”

Alyssa nods, whispering a raspy, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Emma smiles softly. “Sleep well, princess.”

* * *

Emma’s phone rings at exactly 2:09 p.m. the next day. She’s in class, but it’s her grandmother so she knows that she’ll understand. Except, when she doesn’t answer, Betsy only calls her again. Thinking that it was possibly her butt dialing her again, which was a common occurrence, she ignores it. However, the third time it happens she finally walks out of the lecture hall and picks it up. “I need you to come home,” her grandmother sounds as if she had been crying for hours. “Something’s happened and you need to come home right now. I already booked your plane tickets, you can print them off.”

“Grandma, what’s going on?” as much as Betsy may try, she can’t hide the fear in her voice and neither can Emma.

“Something happened to Alyssa.”

Her eyes bulge out as a thousand possible scenarios flash in her head, and she rushes back to her car to drive to her dorm. Her roommate is still there, and Emma doesn’t know how to answer her questions of why she’s packing or what’s going on. All she knows is that something has happened to her girlfriend and her grandmother refuses to tell her what.

By the time she actually returns to Edgewater, Indiana, her heart is racing. She passes Kaylee and Shelby’s house while Betsy drives her home, and both of their cars are in their driveways. “Grandma, what the hell is going on?” Emma finally asks as they reach their own house, finding her voice for the first time since entering the town. 

“Sit down,” Betsy commands, her voice shaking as tears begin to run down her face again. “Emma, I don’t know how to tell you this but- but-”

“What is it?” Emma’s crying now, and she doesn’t even know what’s going on.

“Alyssa passed away today,” her grandmother whispers, and everything around Emma feels as if it’s crashing. She can’t say anything, she can’t even move. She simply sits on the couch, eyes wide, shell shocked at the news that her grandmother just gave her. “Emma, I’m so sorry.”

“No,” she finally says. “No, this can’t be real.”

She storms out of the house, tears pooling in her eyes. Barely being able to see, she drives until she finds herself at James Madison’s football field. There was a time where she would have sat under these bleachers with Alyssa, whispering “I love you”s and stealing secret kisses that no one could know about. She wasn’t the only one with this idea.

Nearly as soon as she gets out of the car she’s attacked with a hug from Shelby, and she finally lets herself crash. She lowers Emma to the ground, and Kaylee joins them. They’re sitting on the grass of the football field when the blonde finally finds the will to speak. “What happened?”

“She was sick,” Shelby whispers, tears running down her face. “I got to her dorm, and she was burning up. It hurt to touch her. The doctors said there was nothing they could do, she was too far gone.”

“No,” hearing her say that makes it suddenly real, and Emma feels as if a weight has permanently settled on her chest. “This can’t be real. How could this happen to her?”

“I’m so sorry,” she pulls her into her arms again. "If I had just left that class over I could have gotten to her, this is my fault."

Shelby is rocking herself back and forth, and Emma pulls her in for a hug. "Shelby don't say that," she whispers, her voice still hoarse from her sobbing. "This isn't your fault, there's nothing you could have done."

Shelby doesn't say anything more, and the three of them sit quietly with the only sound anyone can hear being the cries escaping their lips. The silence that surrounds them is strange. In some ways, it reminds Emma of the awkward silence that would fill the room when she would be called on to answer a question she didn’t know the answer to in class. Perhaps that was because now she was sitting here with a thousand unanswered questions, and she had no idea how she would ever find a way to solve any of them.

* * *

“Hey,” Barry’s voice is soft as she pulls Emma into a much-needed bear hug. “We made some tea. Betsy said you hadn’t been feeling up to leaving your room so I figured I would bring it up.”

“Thanks,” Emma sips from the cup carefully, before setting it back down on the tray he had brought up. “It tastes like what she used to make.”

Barry smiles sadly, before sitting next to her on the bed. “How are you holding up?”

Emma shrugs, leaning her head on his shoulder. He rubs her back a little, before pulling his fingers through her messy blonde curls that had gone unbrushed for the past three days. “I love you, my sweet little lesbian.”

“Why’d it have to be here?” she asks suddenly, turning to face him. “She was so young, she had so much going for her and now she’s just gone? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Sometimes bad things happen, and we don’t always get a real explanation,” Barry sighs, pulling the teen close to him.

“This isn't just a bad thing! This is the worst possible thing that could have ever happened to me! She’s fucking dead!”

A choked sob escapes Emma’s lips before she can stop it, and there’s nothing Barry can do but hold her close, rubbing her back and attempting to calm her down. This is real, Alyssa is gone. It feels like a nightmare to Emma like maybe she’ll wake up in a few minutes and everything will be back to normal again. Her girlfriend will be lying next to her, and she can reach out and take her into her arms. All she wants is to see Alyssa’s face.

She sees it the next day, as the casket lay open for the wake. Tears stream down her face as she holds hands with Angie, who is struggling to keep herself from bursting into hysterics as well. As Emma stares at her face a thousand memories flash in her mind. The showcase their junior year when they made the first eye contact, the peanut brittle that exploded all over her shirt, the countless band closet meetings, their first kiss, the prom where they were finally unafraid to be who they truly were.

_Were_

That was another thought that Emma wasn’t sure how to deal with. Referring to Alyssa in the past tense didn’t make sense. It still felt like she was right there with her.  
They sit down as the pastor begins to speak, then Mrs. Greene. It feels like only a few seconds have passed before it’s Emma’s turn to get up, and when she turns to face the crowd she finds all of her fears crashing around her. How is she supposed to do this? How can she be speaking at Alyssa Greene’s funeral?

“Hi,” she starts, voice wavering and tears already threatening to spill onto her cheeks. “My name’s Emma Nolan, and I was Alyssa’s girlfriend.”

_Was_

“Alyssa was everything to me. My world has honestly just stopped spinning since the day she passed, and I’m really not sure how to get it to start going again. Everything has stopped because of her. My whole life revolved around her, so much so that after spending Christmas with her last break… I had made a decision. I was supposed to surprise her on Valentine’s Day.”

There are gasps from the rows of pews as Emma pulls out a box from her pocket, opening it to reveal the shiny ring inside. “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you ‘Lys,” she whispers, waterfalls of tears pouring down her cheeks. “Now you’re not even in it. What am I supposed to do?”

That’s when she breaks down, as the box slips from her fingers and clatters on the ground, the ring stopping right by her foot. Her legs seem to stop working as she falls in anguish, and Dee Dee jumps up to get to her before she can get hurt or lose the beautiful diamond that she knew meant so much to Emma. The rest of the Broadway stars help to comfort her as she sits back down, and by the time it’s over she’s finally a little calm.

When they reach the cemetery soon after, Emma finds herself face to face with Mrs. Greene, who pulls her in for the tightest hug she has ever gotten. For the first time, Emma allows herself to be vulnerable around the older woman, and she wishes that it could’ve been under any other circumstances. “Mrs. Greene,” she says after a moment, looking up with tearful eyes. “I want you to have this. Alyssa would’ve wanted you to have it.”

Emma hands her the ring, and the older woman smiles sadly as she pulls her in for another hug. “I love you so much, Emma Nolan. I’m so sorry for anything that I’ve ever done to you, but you made my daughter so happy. You were her everything, and I hope that we can continue to be friends.”

The young girl nods, and Mrs. Greene gives her one last squeeze before they sit down. The ceremony is a blur, and Emma zones out as everything happens. It feels like it’s going too fast yet dragging on forever at the same time, Emma’s lost her grip on time.

When it’s all over, and the casket is under the ground, the dirt is laid on top, and the flowers have been set, Kaylee and Shelby stay behind with Emma to say their goodbyes. Her two friends go first, and by the time they finally finish there is no one left in the cemetery but the three of them. Emma is clutching the bouquet of roses that Betsy had given her, and she’s shaking as she approaches the marker where her gravestone will soon go. “Let’s give her some space,” Shelby hears Kaylee whisper, and she feels her tug on her arm to get her to turn away. 

There wasn’t anywhere to go, but the least they could do was not watch the poor blonde as she cried. Unfortunately, there was no stopping their ears from hearing the sobs that escaped from her lips, or the words that came after. “I just want to dance with you... Let the whole world melt away and dance…”

She can’t finish her sentence, and the silence that follows is deafening.


End file.
